Gianni Meersman comes out winning

Gianni Meersman comes out winning

"It was really hard but my teammate Janez [Brajkovic] was really good today," said neo-pro Gianni Meersman (Discovery Channel) after winning his first race. The Belgian, who lives near Kortrijk, topped a group of eight riders in Tour of Georgia stage 3.

"Without his efforts it would have been impossible to win the race today. He kept everything together today and was chasing down all of the attacks that were going in the end."

Meersman formed part of the day's major break when it went free at only nine kilometres into the 190-kilometre stage.

The 21 year-old Belgium will complete the Tour of Georgia, his first time in the USA, and then return to Europe to compete in the 4 Jours de Dunkerque (May 8-13) and then the Tour of Belgium (30 - June 3).